MTV'S REPORTS THE DEATH OF TUPAC SHAKUR: SEPTEMBER 13, 1996
Trouble-plagued rapper and actor Tupac Shakur is dead at the age of 25 -- just about a week after sustaining 4 bullet wounds last Saturday night in Las Vegas. Shakur spent the week in the hospital on a respirator in critical condition. The Reverend Jesse Jackson, members of the Nation of Islam, and fellow Death Row Records artist Hammer visited Shakur's bedside on Sunday, when he had one of his lungs removed. Shakur's mother, Afeni -- featured in his "Dear Mama" video -- and other family members kept a vigil at his hospital room in the intensive care unit of University Medical Center in Las Vegas. Early in the week, doctors rated Tupac's chances of survival at one in five, then said his chances had improved on Tuesday, then on Thursday declined to speculate on his prognosis at all. Chris Connelly was on the scene to reconstruct the ultimately fatal events of last Saturday night.
CHRIS CONNELLY: I'm here in Vegas, where the most violent portion of Tupac Shakur's Saturday night was supposed to take place behind me, over there at the MGM Grand Hotel, where Tupac saw Mike Tyson pound Bruce Seldon into submission less than two minutes into their heavyweight bout. The fight ended around 8:55 PM local time, and from there, Tupac headed off to the home of Suge Knight, which is about 5 miles away from here. He's the head of Death Row Records. From there, they were supposed to go to Club 662, that's Knight's club, for a celebration in honor of Tyson, that was going to feature entertainment by people like Run DMC. But the caravan of cars from Knight's house never got to the club.
Tupac and Suge Knight left Knight's home at around 10:30 PM to go to Club 662. By 11:15 that evening, they were heading east on Flamingo, just coming to this intersection here at Koval. They were driving a black BMW 1996 model. Knight was driving, Tupac was in the passenger's seat. Along the passenger's side came a late model white Cadillac. From inside, shots were fired, 14 of them. Tupac was hit four times, twice in the chest, once in the arm, and once in the thigh. Knight was mildly injured by some bullet fragments; but he promptly floored the car, spinning it completely around and took a U-turn so it instantly headed east on Flamingo.
With Tupac bleeding profusely in the passenger seat, Suge Knight was able to get his vehicle just about a mile away from the site of the shooting, something of a miracle given his condition, the condition of the car -- which had a flat tire -- and the fact that the traffic on the strip after a heavyweight fight in Vegas is something to behold. They made it to this corner here, Las Vegas Boulevard and Harmon Avenue, where they were finally pulled over by the Bike Patrol, who radioed ahead to paramedics, who swept them off to University Medical Center -- their evening out in Las Vegas ending just a few steps away from where it had begun, the MGM Grand.
Shortly before midnight, Tupac was brought here, to UMC's Trauma Center, where he was immediately operated on, and then again about 20 hours later.
DALE PUGH, University Medical Center of Southwest Nevada: He's had a right lung removed, he's back in his room, and again, he remains in critical condition. He's in the intensive care unit.
CONNELLY: Is he conscious? Can he communicate with his doctor?
PUGH: He has been conscious, he is under a lot of medication, so he's pretty sedated at this time. He's severely injured. Suffering multiple gun shot wounds is obviously a terrible insult to the human body, so he's in very critical condition, and he's requiring intensive care, and he is receiving that, right now.
Once again, Tupac Shakur died of those bullet wounds at the age of 25 on Friday, September 13.
Suge Knight, who was released from the hospital Sunday night, finally spoke with police on Wednesday, and told them he "heard something, but saw nothing" last Saturday night, leaving the cops with, as one spokesman put it, "nothing" in the way of leads towards suspects or motives. Police also looked at security camera tapes from the Tyson fight at the MGM Grand, where Tupac and his entourage got into a scuffle with someone, who was ruled out as a suspect, since he was still held by security when Tupac left the building. Because there's a possibility of Tupac's shooting being gang-related, Vegas police got in touch on Thursday with Los Angeles police regarding two shootings that happened in LA this week. The Vegas P.D. has also been in touch with New York City police, for it was there that Tupac Shakur was shot two years ago. Of course, Tupac and trouble have hardly been strangers. Here now is a look back at his turbulent life and career.
MTV: Tupac Shakur's public life began when he joined the seminal Bay Area rap ensemble, Digital Underground, first as a tour dancer, then as a rapper. Tupac demonstrated his range as a performer when his first solo record, "2Pacolypse Now," was on the charts at the same time as his critically-acclaimed feature film debut in the violent, coming of age drama, "Juice." While he maintained a thug image, Tupac was a man of contradictions, recording sentimental raps in support of black women, including "Brenda's Got A Baby," and "Keep Ya Head Up."
We spoke this week with Ernest Dickerson, who directed Tupac in his big screen debut, "Juice," and asked him what about Tupac might surprise people. Here's what Dickerson told us.
ERNEST DICKERSON, Director, "Juice": I think that he's very introspective. I mean, when we were shooting "Juice," in between takes, he would spend a lot of time by himself, writing. You know, he thinks a lot. He thinks about what's going on in the world, he thinks about what's going on in the neighborhoods. He thinks about what's going on in this country and around the world, and he talks about it in his music. And the thing that I really got from Tupac was that he was always thinking, always at work. His mind was always going.
LOS ANGELES, Sept. 8 -- "Gangsta" rap star Tupac Shakur was in critical condition in a Las Vegas hospital today after an assailant pumped four bullets into his head and chest during a drive-by shooting Saturday night.
The 25-year-old rap star was shot as he and Marion "Suge" Knight, chairman of Death Row Records, Shakur's label, were on their way to a nightclub about 11:15 p.m. after watching the Mike Tyson-Bruce Seldon heavyweight title fight at the MGM Grand Hotel, police said.
Shakur underwent emergency surgery for multiple gunshot wounds and remained under heavy police and private guard in the trauma-intensive care unit, according to a spokesman for University Medical Center. Knight, 31, was hit in the head by shrapnel and was released from the hospital today.
The shooting was the most serious in a string of violent incidents involving the rap star, who appeared Wednesday at the MTV Video Music Awards, where he and members of his entourage got into an argument with several men in the lobby of New York's Radio City Music Hall. Police were called to break it up.
In November 1994, Shakur was shot five times in the lobby of a New York recording studio when muggers stealing his jewelry opened fire. He has spent much of the past 2 1/2 years in court or in custody on various charges.
A handsome, swaggering man with long eyelashes and a penchant for showy jewelry, Shakur has been a prominent symbol for gangsta rap music, enthusiastically followed by teenage fans and long criticized by adults for its explicitly violent and sexual images. Saturday's incident underscored the link between some rap stars -- despite their celebrity status -- and the dangerous milieu that gave rise to their music.
In the weekend shooting, Knight was driving with Shakur in a convoy of 10 cars about a quarter-mile from the glittering casino strip when a white Cadillac with four people inside pulled up alongside their black BMW and a passenger opened fire. Local media reports said dozens of witnesses looked on in horror.
Police said they had begun an investigation into the shooting but had no suspects yet. "Drive-by shootings are not unknown here, but they usually occur between rival gang members whose reasons are for retaliation for other shootings," said Las Vegas Police Lt. Marc Maston. "I can't tell you the motivation behind this."
But he said police were optimistic they would find the assailants. "This particular incident apparently had several witnesses. If they are credible, with good information, this should be solvable."
Spokesmen for Death Row Records could not be reached for comment as to possible motives for the shooting. Shakur said earlier this year that he believed the 1994 robbery-shooting was a setup, fueling speculation in the hip-hop industry that rivalry between East Coast and West Coast rap labels may have taken a violent turn.
Shakur himself has had many run-ins with the law in recent years. In June, the singer faced a 120-day sentence for probation violations stemming from offenses including assault and battery and a 1994 sexual abuse conviction in New York. He had been allowed to remain free on $1.4 million bail -- paid by Death Row Records -- pending his appeal.
Shakur served 11 months in prison for his involvement in the attack on a 21-year-old woman in a New York hotel room. He had been convicted in Los Angeles of assault and battery on a music video producer and for carrying a loaded, concealed weapon, and was scheduled for sentencing this week on the weapons charge.
But in the world of rap, Shakur's convictions seemed only to enhance his status. His fourth solo album, "All Eyez on Me," a two-volume, 27-track recording featuring guest turns by fellow rappers Snoop Doggy Dogg, Rappin' 4-Tay and Method Man, debuted earlier this year and has sold more than 5 million copies. His previous album, "Me Against the World," had the dubious distinction of being the first album to reach No. 1 while its singer was in prison.
Shakur also starred opposite Janet Jackson in the 1993 movie "Poetic Justice" and has been working on another film, "Gridlock."
In interviews earlier this year, Shakur had said he was tired of living up to his outlaw image, one he had chronicled in a tattoo on his chest that pronounced "Thug Life."
"I lived Thug Life," he said. "It was stupid . . . it's suicidal."
But the rapper also said that he expected he would die violently. In July, Shakur told the British newspaper the Observer: "It's going to happen. All the [black people] who change the world die in violence. They don't get to die like regular ways. [Expletives] come take their lives."
Timeline of events Times are approximate.
Saturday, Sept. 7 8:30 p.m. - People start leaving the Mike Tyson - Bruce Seldon fight that was held at the MGM Grand. Tupac Shakur attended the fight which started at 8 p.m. Tyson was declared the winner after 109 seconds in the ring with Seldon. 8:30 to 9 p.m. - Shakur and his bodyguards are involved in a physical altercation with a man near the hotel's Grand Garden. Police do not believe the man was in any way connected to the later shooting of Shakur. 11:15 p.m. - Shakur and Marion "Suge" Knight are shot. Shakur had been standing up through the open sun roof of a 1996 BMW 750 sedan that was eastbound on Flamingo Road. Shakur is shot four times in the chest. Shrapnel grazed Knight's head. A total of 13 shots were fired at the car Shakur was in. After the shooting, Shakur's car made a U-turn and head West on Flamingo. Police reached the car on the Strip where it was caught in traffic. An ambulance then picked up Shakur and Knight transporting them to University Medical Center, where Shakur underwent the first of three operations.
Sunday, Sept. 8 11 a.m. - Knight is released from the University Medical Center. 6:20 p.m. - Shakur undergoes a second operation at UMC to repair damage from the bullet wounds.
Monday, Sept. 9 8 p.m. - Metro Police and about 20 friends of Shakur are in an altercation over what police call a "misunderstanding." Tensions are calmed with help from a female friend of Shakur's and four men originally handcuffed during the scuffle are released. No one was arrested. Police have been patrolling outside the hospital out of concern for retaliation after the shooting.
Wednesday, Sept. 11 6 p.m. - Knight, accompanied by his attorneys speaks to METRO Police for about an hour.
Friday, Sept. 13 4:03 p.m. - Shakur dies from his injuries.
Reaction to Shakur's death "The most unfortunate thing that has ever happened in the hip hop culture. It saddens me. I hope this is a wake up call for a lot of us. I pray for him and his loved ones." -- Recording Artist, actor and Uptown Records Chief Executive Officer Heavy D
"This is so, so sad. Sometimes the lure of violent culture is so magnetic that even when one overcomes it with material success, it continues to call. He couldn't break the cycle." -- Rev. Jesse Jackson
"There ain't nothing wrong with speaking the truth. But I want my brothers to realize we're killing ourselves. It's a crying shame to still be living this way." -- Michelle Swift, Shakur fan in Las Vegas.
"Despite some of his shortcomings, he always gave you something with his music. He gave you some things to think about or he gave you something to laugh about or he gave you something to cry about." -- fellow rapper Coolio
"I hope in the midst of this tragedy, we can put together an aggressive and strong drive against violence among young people and dedicate it to Tupac's memory." -- Rev. Al Sharpton, who counseled Shakur in prison
"Nobody wants to help the police. What for? What are they going to do? I'm just saying that whoever did this is going to get found. The people who find him, I don't know what they'll do." -- Marcos, a friend of Shakur's at University Medical Center
"I'm here to pay my respects - for fan support and moral support. There's anger. The anger is directed at an individual who is at large somewhere." -- Kevin D, a fan who gathered outside University Medical Center
"I just feel bad, real bad for him. He was somebody I really looked up to."
-- Chris Spamm, a fan at a mall in Crenshaw District of Los Angeles.
"I was devastated, like man this is a real shame how rap music has turned now," -- Jerry Kirby, a fan at a mall in Crenshaw District of Los Angeles
"That's the funny thing about life, you never know what's going to happen to you, you know what I'm saying? He wasn't expecting it. You never know, man, when your time's going to come you know?" -- Elmont Robertson, a fan at a mall in Crenshaw District of Los Angeles.
